Israeli strikes in the early hours of Sunday (August 4) killed 18 people in Gaza, including four who were sheltering in a tent camp for displaced Palestinians inside a hospital complex. Another stabbing attack carried out by a Palestinian person killed two persons in Tel Aviv suburb. Tensions continue to soar in the Middle East following nearly 10 months in Gaza and the killing of two senior militants in separate attacks in Lebanon and Iran last week.
The killing of Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran drew threats from Iran regarding revenge “at an appropriate time and place”. The latest developments have raised fears of an even more destructive regional war.
A woman in her 70s and an 80-year-old man were killed in the stabbing attack, according to Israel's Magen David Adom rescue service and a nearby hospital, and two other men were wounded. The police said the attack was carried out by a Palestinian militant, who was “neutralised”.
The rescuers said the wounded were found in three different locations, each about 500 metres (yards) apart. Police initially said they were searching for other suspects but later ruled out the possibility of there having been more than one assailant.
Israel has been bracing for retaliation after the killing of a senior Hezbollah commander in a strike in Lebanon and Hamas' top political leader in an attack in Iran's capital last week. Both were linked to the ongoing war in Gaza, which was triggered by Hamas' October 7 attack into Israel.
In Gaza, an Israeli strike earlier on Sunday hit a tent camp housing displaced Palestinians in the courtyard of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, killing four people, including one woman, and injuring others, Gaza's Health Ministry said.
The Israeli military said it targeted a Palestinian militant in the strike, which it said caused secondary explosions, "indicating the presence of weaponry in the area”.
Hezbollah has regularly traded fire with Israel along the Lebanon border since the start of the war, in what the militant group says is aimed at relieving pressure on its fellow Iran-backed ally, Hamas. The continuous strikes and counterstrikes have grown in severity in recent months, raising fears of an even more destructive regional war.
Over 590 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire in the occupied West Bank since the start of the war in Gaza, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. Most have been killed during Israeli raids and violent protests. Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war, and the Palestinians want all three territories for their future state.
(With AP inputs)
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